There are a number of fishing techniques or methods that require the use of a fishing hook whose hook point is protected from snagging on debris in the water. Such protected hooks, commonly known as weedless hooks, are of particular advantage when fishing among weeds, n brush piles, or close to debris on the bottom of lakes and rivers. Weedless single hooks are commonly used with live bait such as worms or minnows, and weedless treble hooks are used with artificial lures such as plugs and spoons.
Some prior weedless hooks utilized a wire structure connected to the hook shank and extending outwardly to near the hook point in position to deflect weeds and other debris away from the hook point as the hook was pulled through water. The wire structure also required a certain flexibility so that it did not interfere with the hooking of a fish by the point and barb. Other weedless hook structures, particularly for single hook baits or lures such as jigs, utilized a stiff plastic member or a bundle of stiff plastic fibers positioned ahead of the hook point to deflect weeds away from the hook point as the lure was pulled through the water.
Fishing lures also commonly used a skirt arrangement as an enhancement to attract fish to strike the lure. These lure or hook skirts were commonly made from flat strands of flexible plastic or rubber. The strands were adapted to extend rearwardly behind the hook in position to flex and undulate as the hook was drawn through the water.
Although prior fishing hook skirts were positioned to extend adjacent to the hook point, the skirt strands were too flexible to deflect debris away from the hook point and did not render the hook weedless. Also, the wire or rigid plastic weedguard members were not adapted to hide the hook or undulate as the hook was drawn through the water to provide any fish attracting enhancement. In fact, prior weedguard devices tended to accentuate the hook, and thus made the bait less attractive.